My suspicions seem to be confirmed. most of you hold the torch in the
non-dominant hand and do the difficult work with the dominant hand.
The reason I asked is because for forty years I have been doing
extremely intricate soldering which requires lots of very delicate
holding /prodding / moving with the pick in my left (non-dominant)
hand! Which I guess makes me super ambidextrous, for those of you who
promote ambidexterity…:-)… Now that I am getting old(er) and my
hands are less steady, it suddenly occurred to me that I really ought
to be using my ‘good’ hand for the hard stuff. That made me wonder
what others do. I suppose I started holding the torch in my right
hand because that is what I was taught. It was with a benzine (not
benzene) torch with a bellows, which required constant leg work and
constant button adjustment with the torch hand, so both hands had
’hard’ jobs. I probably was able to do the finicky stuff with my left
hand because of all the years of violin playing…:-)…
So it seems very few of you out there hold the torch in the 'good’
hand and do the fiddly stuff with the ‘bad’ (or less good) hand. I
think I will try changing over. at this late stage…:-)…
Albert’s instructions for reducing a No 2 pencil into a soldering
pick puts me in a mind to offer something to the board.
Engineering and architectural drafting supply stores sell “pencil
vises” which hold +/- 5" graphite leads in varying hardnesses. They
also sell sharpeners specially made to bring the lead to a very
sharp point. I have not priced the three, but memory suggests that
$25 will buy a perpetual tool for use as a soldering pick. (A piece
of sandpaper will eliminate the need for a sharpener.)
I put “pencil vise” in to Google and went straight to Images. Didn’t
see anything remotely resembling a tool that could hold pencil
leads. Could there be some other name?
Just a note on the clutch pencils that James mentioned: the clutch
mechanism is metal, but the body is plastic. And carbon conducts heat
surprisingly well. This does not make a good combination. Interesting
idea though. I use clutch pencils for holding those little brass
brush bits for the flex shaft that are a cup with all the bristles
pointing forward. Works really well for sweeping the crap out of
small files.
With the wooden pencil versions, the forward end of the wood burns
away at a slow but noticeable rate. They ‘wear down’ just like normal
pencils, and eventually you junk them and make a new one.
I would think you can put that thicker lead into any pin vise that
has a big enough opening. Pencil lead would be at an art supply
store. Drafting pencils work like a pin vise but easier.
I put "pencil vise" in to Google and went straight to Images.
Didn't see anything remotely resembling a tool that could hold
pencil leads. Could there be some other name? lders.
Try Google-ing Artists Lead Point Holders.
Instead of using the manufactured lead point holders though, why not
purchase just the lead points, and use a jeweler’s pin vise?
something like
either style are all metal, and will not melt like the commercial
lead point holders that are mostly plastic will. If you are concerned
with the lead transferring heat to the metal you could wrap the pin
vise in a few turnsof tape to protect your fingers from the heat.
Since we’re talking about something you could hold a pencil lead in
to use as a soldering pick, I thought the poster was referring to
something all metal, more like a long pin vise… not a simple
mechanical pencil, which would surely burn/melt…:-)…
It may be that my drafting pencil and lead advice wasn’t a good one
on balance if as Alberic says, the holders are plastic. I have a
couple which I have had for years which are all metal - aluminum -
and they work fine. I haven’t checked to see what is available
today.